“So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” John 10:24-25
Our Gospel reading for this morning from the Gospel of John is part of a much larger section of the Gospel (chapters 5-10) in which Jesus’ works are interspersed with people trying to figure out who he is and disagreeing with each other and with Jesus abut their conclusions. Some are simply confused. Some see in Jesus a wise man from whom they can learn a great deal (John 1:49; 3:2). Some can see in Jesus a reflection of the prophets who called the nation of Israel, and in particular its leaders, to repentance and a renewal of their covenant with God (John 4:19, 29; 6:14-15; 7:20; 9:11). Some are hopeful that he might just be the messiah, the military leader who will release them from the hold of the Roman Empire and bring in a new empire lead by Jewish kings (John 7:41-43). Some think he is at best crazy and at worst a demon-possessed blasphemer, worthy only of being stoned to death (John 7:12, 20; 8:57-59; 9:16, 24; 10:31).
In our reading for today the questioning of Jesus intensifies. In verse 24 the Greek is translated, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” This is a translation of a not easily translated idiom. The literal translation is, “How long will you take away our life?” We might say, “Would you tell us already. The suspense is killing me.” Some really want to know who Jesus is and if he is the military leader they are looking for and some simply want Jesus to say that he is this Messiah so that they can have him arrested and get this troublesome man out of their midst.
Most who are asking about Jesus’ identity have no real idea who Jesus is or the mission for which he has been sent. And Jesus knows this. He understands that most of those who are questioning his identity have preconceived ideas and expectations about who he is and who they want him to be. He knows that almost all of their ideas and expectations are wrong, and nothing he says will change their views. He knows this because his actions, the healings and feedings and radical hospitality and such that he has done publicly in view of all, have not been understood by those questioning him. And if they cannot understand his actions and where they come from, then they won’t understand anything he has to say either. All he can do is to continue to be and act in unity with God in faithfulness to God’s mission for him, and those who are able will recognize his mission and his acts and follow him, and those who are blinded by their preconceived ideas and expectations will be unable to follow him.
And what are those preconceived ideas and expectations that get in the way of those around Jesus understanding who he is and therefore following him? Well, a little historical background summary will help. For Jesus was a human being who lived in a particular time and place, and most of the arguments in this section of John will make no sense to us in 2025 if we don’t understand what they are arguing about.
The Roman Empire of Jesus’ time was unusually harsh toward Jews because Jews were unusually resistant to its rule. Indeed, the festival of Dedication, or Hannukah, during which our reading for today is set, was a celebration of a successful rebellion by Jewish revolutionaries against occupying powers who had defiled the temple with their worship of the emperor more than a century and a half prior.
For Romans, it made sense that people worship power. The one in power then gained in strength through their worship. Worship of the emperor helped to hold the empire together. Such worship should take place in the temple. But the Jewish response to such a sacrilege was violent. Rome dealt harshly with rebels but negotiated with Jewish leaders. These leaders persuaded the Romans to excuse Jews from formal worship as long as they expressed their allegiance in other ways. This made it possible for the Jewish people to survive both in Palestine and throughout the empire.
It also intimately connected the Temple leaders with Roman leadership. The prosperity and well-being of these Jewish leaders depended on a positive relationship with Rome, most especially local and political administrators such as Pilate. While they had profound theological differences with Roman polytheism and their worship of Caesar as divine and considered the Roman pantheon idolatrous and viewed Romans as unclean, in day-to-day practice the Temple and State were united in purpose, maintaining law and order and ensuring their power and prosperity. So of course, they wanted to know if Jesus was threatening this well-balanced order. Others, who were not among the religious leadership and wealthy elite, hoped that Jesus was the military leader who would lead a new revolution and free them from the oppressive yoke of the Roman Empire.
Jesus basically says, “You are all wrong. I am none of the things you think I am. I am the shepherd-leader who will ultimately lay down my life for the sheep. Because my actions and words are those of God, because I do nothing other than the Father’s will, when you see me, you see God. When you see my mission, you see God’s mission. When you know me, you know God. My power comes not from military might, wealth, status, or coercion. My power comes from my unity with God, my love of God and my love for my neighbor. Collusion with worldly power is not the answer. Replacing one coercive Roman ruler with another coercive Jewish ruler through violent revolution is not the answer. Relationship and love are the answer. Care of the widow, orphan, stranger, and all who the world marginalizes is the answer. Learn who I am from my actions and follow me and you will find yourself in the midst of the reign of God. You will find no coercive power in me because there is no coercive power in God, and I am one with God. True love and relationship never seek to coerce or control. And because I am one with the God who is love, I will never seek to coerce or control you. Follow me if you understand. If you don’t understand then there is no more I can say that will help you understand.”
This is not a Trinitarian debate. That is for the church leaders of another century. This is the story of a fully human Jesus who is fully united with the Divine in a way that no other human being has ever experienced. In a world in which God is already present in all things, places, and times, we see in Jesus the Divine spark burst through in full glory in a way never seen before, expressed in the fullness of Jesus’ fully embodied humanity. Jesus standing before the crowd that day in the temple is perfect human and perfect God because his will is completely aligned with God’s will. He is one with the Father because the working of God in him is complete and free. We, on the other hand, are imperfectly human because more often than not we restrict the working of God in us. More often than not we resist the Divine spark within us that is seeking to lure us more deeply into love and relationship with God and our neighbor.
So, what does all this theologizing mean for us today in 2025? We are not living as conquered citizens of the Roman Empire. We are not Jewish people seeking the freedom to practice our monotheism in an authoritarian empire marked by polytheism. This does not mean we do not approach Jesus and God with our own preconceived ideas and expectations. Ideas and expectations that get in the way of us hearing the voice of the Shepherd and following his lead.
First, we need to let go of the model of God that makes God into a heavenly Roman Emperor located somewhere far distant from us in the sky. This model says that God is coercive and needs to be appeased. In this model, Jesus had to die to appease an all-powerful God because of the sin of fallen and worthless humanity. In this model, God has power over everything and controls everything, so this God could save a child from cancer but doesn’t. This God could save us from the environmental disaster toward which we are quickly hurtling but doesn’t. This is a helpful model for those who wish to hold coercive power over others, for it scares people into submission, but it is not a helpful model if you want to live in the kingdom of God, a world in which love, relationship, abundance, and reconciliation are the norm.
Instead, we need to see the God that is revealed in Jesus. This God does not insist on God’s own way. This God does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in truth. This God freely offers relationship but does not punish when that relationship is rejected. This God reaches out to humanity over and over again in hopes that humanity will respond in kind. There is no limit to what this God can bear in love for the sake of God’s creation. This God is present, or incarnate in every part of creation, enabling it to exist, and cocreating with it. In every moment of the Divine creation this God is present offering new possibilities for life, love and creativity and urging us toward the possibilities that bring us these things and giving us the freedom to make other choices because true love always grants full freedom to the one being loved. This God is not the unmoved mover but the most moved mover. This is a God whose voice we can follow in full faith and trust. This is a God in which we can live and move and have our being because this God lives and moves and has His being in us. And following this kind of God is transformative for us individually and transformative for the world.
And if you don’t believe me, let me name just a few people who followed this incarnate God and who were both transformed by this following and in turn transformative for the world. Martin Luther King jr., Francis Perkins, Francis of Assisi, William Wilberforce, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, the 12 Apostles, Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Oscar Romero, Florence Nightengale, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Howard Thurman, Absalom Jones, Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen. I’ll stop there. I think you get my point. What do all of these people have in common? They all heard the voice of the shepherd and followed, and in following they found themselves in the kingdom of God. Each of these individuals responded to God’s persuading love and in so doing expanded God’s presence in the world. In each of their times and places, in saying yes to God’s persuading love, they were partners with God in creating God’s kingdom in their here and now.
And we are being given the same opportunity in every moment of our lives. In each and every moment we are presented with infinite possibilities, some of which will bring greater love and abundance to the world and some of which will not. And God incarnate in each of us is always seeking to guide and persuade us toward the choice that will bring greater love and abundance. We will frequently make the wrong choice, and God will not abandon us in our mistakes, but continue to try to persuade us to listen again to the Divine voice and choose creativity, freedom, love and abundance for ourselves and more importantly for our neighbors and for the world. And if we want to be able to hear that Divine voice, we only have to look at the life of Jesus, at his actions and his deeds and then we will be able to recognize God’s voice and follow.
“Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:8-12)
Amen.
